Suspect arrested on robbery anniversary

TWO years to the day, detectives have finally caught up with a man they allege was involved in an armed hold-up at Toormina.

At 3.33am on June 6, 2004, two males with shirts wrapped around their heads, one of whom was armed with a wheelbrace, entered the Bogas Service Station on Toormina Road.

They demanded money from the 21-year-old attendant and stole a cash drawer, a laptop computer and the employee's MP3 player.

The pair took off in a stolen car, in which two other men had been waiting for them.

The cash drawer was later found dumped on the Pacific Highway at Raleigh, and the car was abandoned at Burnt Bridge Mission at West Kempsey.

On Tuesday, Coffs Harbour detectives went to Newcastle where they interviewed a Moree man, 25, about the incident. They charged him with armed robbery, and he appeared in Newcastle Local Court yesterday for a bail hearing.

He was refused bail to appear in Moree Local Court on June 20, when police expect to lay further charges.